Come on – you know that occasionally you want technology to respond when you slap it.

As my sister watched an episode of the television show Quantum Leap, I thoroughly enjoyed watch Dean Stockwell’s character Al give his pocket computer, looking for all the world like a 7″ tablet, little helpful smacks.

SmackTop does that for music. Yes, we hear, ad infinitum, the complaint that laptop musicians simply stare inertly at blue glowing laptops as if checking their email. Now they get to put a little skin in the game, literally. And a version 0.3 update makes this humorous novelty genuinely useful:

Imagine your laptop as a MIDI drum kit. SmackTop is an open-source application for Mac laptops which translates physical motion into MIDI messages. Through real-time analysis of the built-in accelerometer’s output, SmackTop is able to classify four different ‘smacks’. Now you can control your favorite DAW by simply tapping your computer. Slap samples, ping notes and hit record – SmackTop is the MIDI controller you already own.

Try it yourself, free:

http://code.google.com/p/smacktop/ (they miss the obvious name, “SlapTop,” but…)

Got another motion-sensing laptop that’s not a Mac and feel jealous? Maybe someone can port this.

In January, we also expect to catch up in person with developer Raymond Weitekamp and Interface LA, the awesome live performance collective in southern California. Stay tuned.

Slap that laptop, make it free!

Now, a tribute to slaps we love…

With all the horsepower computers are now packing, you might be surprised at the idea of adding on dedicated hardware for sound processing. Or, you can look at it another way: with computers more powerful than ever, with digital processing sounding more convincing both as emulation of traditional gear and in imagining never-before-possible sounds, the digital studio in a backpack is even closer.

Into that picture, enter the Universal Audio UAD-2 Satellite. Enclosed in a metal housing about the size of a large-ish external hard drive, the Satellite could absolutely fit into the side pocket of a computer backpack or messenger bag. Coupled with a MacBook Pro laptop, you could very easily carry your entire studio on a bicycle. That’s not to take away from the joys of outboard gear, but if you’ve got some decent engineering chops, such a rig could really be a studio that can live anywhere.

I’ve had a chance to begin working with the Satellite as my main platform for UAD’s plug-ins for some months now, and it’s an extraordinary box. The most important thing to know about it is that it’s intended for select Intel Macs, and it’s equipped with FireWire 800. Dedicated DSP processing goes back to the very first days of digital audio on computers. (Early Digidesign products and even the IRCAM-developed predecessor of Max/MSP all used DSP hardware.) DSP also naturally appeals to sound engineers: it’s hardware built for the sole purpose of doing the kinds of number crunching in audio, as opposed to the general-purpose architecture of a computer CPU.

The challenge has always been how to get data between the computer and the DSP device. That’s led to an array of buses, like PCI Express slots (which requires jamming a card into a desktop computer) or ExpressCard. As Apple have largely phased out ExpressCard expansion, Mac users have found themselves without a solution.

The UAD-2 Satellite makes use of FireWire 800 instead, thus opening up compatibility with recent Intel-based MacBook Pro laptops as well as the iMac and Mac mini. The 17″ MacBook Pro continues to support ExpressCard, but FireWire 800 offers greater processing power (and is less prone to popping out, as cards in the ExpressCard slot have a nasty tendency to do). The Satellite is available as a “DUO” and “QUAD,” indicating the number of internal processors. (You do the math to work out how much more you get from a Quad than a Duo. I’ll wait…)

As an aside, readers routinely ask if something like the mini or, especially, the iMac could work for audio production. Resounding answer: yes, absolutely. The iMac in particular has a pretty compelling price/performance ratio if you want a compact machine to drop on a desk and don’t have a spare monitor. The mini’s no slouch, either, and seems a logical addition to, say, a project studio.

And that brings us back, full circle, to the reason the Satellite is compelling. It unlocks processing power exclusively dedicated to some tasty and useful processing, all emulating classic gear, while freeing up your computer to do other things. You might, for instance, focus on native processing for a software synth and some creative effects, then bring in the Satellite’s UAD-platform effects to add some historically-accurate compression. And even an entry-level, lowly Mac mini, coupled with the Satellite, is perfectly capable of handling typical compositional and mixing environments without bouncing to audio or freezing tracks.

You certainly need to be interested in the UAD catalog of audio processing tools before this really becomes relevant. For some insight into how Universal Audio does their development and conceives what they do, with the obligatory drool-inducing photos of some retro hardware, see our interview with Dr. David Berners:

Modeling Analog in a Digital Age: A Conversation with Universal Audio’s Chief Scientist; Gallery

But if you are looking for a platform on which you can run these effects – or if you’re ready to upgrade from a previous UAD system (your existing plug-in registrations will port right over) – read on.

What UA Says About the Satellite

Looking at a Satellite, you can’t really see much – it’s a magical, mystery box that processes sounds. It’s what’s under the hood that matters. So I talked with Amanda Whiting of Universal Audio about some of the technical details of the Satellite.

CDM: How has the Satellite evolved from previous UA gear?
UA: The UAD-2 Satellite marks the first Firewire-based external DSP unit offered by UA, for Intel-based Mac laptops and desktops. The Satellite provides up to a four-processor UAD-2 DSP Accelerator for the many people mixing and mastering on the road with their laptops, and for those who don’t have a desktop system that includes PCIe slots. It also allows for easy session compatibility — so you can take your UAD-2 plug-ins with you, and mix on another Intel-based Mac system that may not have a UAD-2 card installed. The FireWire 800 onboard provides twice the power of FireWire 400. This allows you to connect a UAD-2 Satellite and a FireWire audio interface together on the same FireWire bus, and still have enough bandwidth for lots of plug-ins.

Ed.: That’s an interesting detail, in fact – hard disks and most other accessories take advantage of only a fraction of the added bandwidth of FireWire 800, meaning for many applications, the “800″ is a bit of a misnomer. Us audio folk are different – we really are talking about maxing out that additional bandwidth for the UAD-2.

Any rough practical info on the DSP horsepower? I’ve done some tests as far as what I can run simultaneously and it’s a great step from ExpressCard, but curious how best to quantify it.

The UAD-2 Satellite QUAD is four times as powerful as the ExpressCard-based UAD-2 SOLO/Laptop card, which has a single chip. For your reference, here’s a couple of links:
http://www.uaudio.com/blog/uad-2-satellite-basics-faq
http://www.uaudio.com/support/uad/satellite-support

Also here is a link to the instance chart. The UAD-2 Satellite has the same theoretical instance counts as the PCIe cards, except at very high instance counts where the FireWire bandwidth is exceeded. Still you can run 152 mono plug-ins or 77 Stereo plug-ins with UAD-2 Satellite, so the FireWire bus is not typically a factor.
“http://www.uaudio.com/support/uad/compatibility/instance-chart.html

What real world uses are you seeing so far from your users? To me, it seems really practical for even live laptop performance, and of course mobile production … not to mention the ability to take your UA faves to a studio.

The UAD-2 Satellite definitely provides a level of portability that we haven’t been able to offer previously. It’s great to take into any studio and pull up your UAD-powered sessions, and it’s absolutely ideal for mobile production. As far as live use, latency is always an issue with running audio over Firewire, but with certain effects — particularly reverbs and delays that lend themselves to live tweaking — the latency may come across as a pre-delay and sound just fine. We’ve heard this more than once from our users. We’ve also seen a lot of adoption with Pro Tools HD Customers – these customers typically have all three PCIe slots taken up on a Mac Pro so the UAD-2 PCIe version may have been a non-starter, but with Satellite, they can keep their cards in the machine and simply connect UAD-2 Satellite via FireWire with great results.

Ed.: One note on latency: with a recent update, you can set minimum latency to an impressive 256 samples. So, at the very least, the software itself is not a limiting factor.

Setup and Use

Setting up the Satellite is fairly easy. I’d actually struggled a bit with an ExpressCard UAD-2 – firmware updates, a card that initially didn’t work, and difficulty, as with all ExpressCards, with the card popping out of the slot. (That’s not UA’s fault: it’s the result of overly springy slots on typical laptops, and the fact that the spring-loaded eject is itself a really terrible idea for something you want to stay connected.) The Satellite was much easier: plug in power, plug in a cable, boot up the machine, and go.

As with all UA products, the Satellite relies on a single, unified installer that gives you all of the plug-ins ready-to-use as VSTs, Audio Units, or, for Pro Tools, RTAS. (On the Mac, I’d recommend defaulting to the VST in hosts that support it.) You get a 14-day trial of everything; for longer use, you’ll need to purchase and authorize the plug-ins. (Various bundles with the hardware get you started with licenses for a range of tools.)

Download and open an authorization file, and you get access to the plug-ins you need.

On the hardware side, you need two cables to connect the Satellite: power and FireWire 800. (Bus power over FireWire 800 is insufficient to drive the Satellite.)

Stop and consider this for a moment: you get exactly the same power out of a Satellite that you would out of the equivalent internal card. That means the argument for a desktop chassis is greatly reduced versus a more convenient iMac, mini, or MacBook Pro.

Because the authorization is associated with the hardware, you can also move the Satellite between multiple locations. These days, a lot of us do production and mastering and such against tight deadlines or in time on the road. Now, you can do that, but still bring your arsenal of effects into a physical studio environment when you’ve got a couple of days booked for recording.

The hardware itself is really lovely; it’s definitely been rugged enough to hold up to all that travel. For anyone considering this for an institution or studio environment, there’s also a Kensington Lock so someone doesn’t walk off with your valuable gear and authorizations. There’s also a pretty, glowing UA logo that shows you power is provided. Unfortunately, the LED that shows you if you’re properly connected to the computer is hidden away on the back; it would have been nice if UA had associated that to the giant herald on the front, instead, so you could actually see it.

Also, I was surprised to learn that hot-swapping is okay. So long as you shut down your UAD software first, UA says you can feel perfectly safe disconnecting and reconnecting the hardware to an active or sleeping computer. That’s a nice boon to us laptop users.

“Ah,” you say, “this FireWire business is great, but I also use FireWire 800 for my project drive. And an audio interface.” The Satellite gives you a couple of options here. For one, it has a pass-through port, so you can daisy-chain additional hardware without a hub. Again, power becomes an issue. Most hard drives I’ve found have power ports, so you can simply bring along their power wall wart and power them separately. (You’ll want to bring along a little power strip.) UA suggests that for gear that lacks that – like certain Apogee audio interfaces – you can use a FireWire repeater, an affordable accessory which injects power externally.

The more significant issue is bandwidth and speed mixing. Any additional device will take up some bandwidth, because they’re sharing the same bus. In my use, I chose to simply run audio over USB2 and connected, with the addition of my wall wart, a portable Glyph project drive to the FireWire 800 port on the UAD-2. If you’re doing something fancier than that, you can allocate bandwidth in the UAD software.

The trick is if you add a FireWire 400 device to the mix. If chained in the wrong order, any single FW400 gadget will cause the FW800 gear to slow to 400 speeds. The solution: just connect that 400 device (like, say, an old MOTU audio interface) last in your chain.

This, to me, brings up an unexpected reason the new Thunderbolt port on new-model Macs becomes useful. The UAD-2 Satellite, for its part, gets plenty of bandwidth from FireWire 800. Universal Audio has expressed an interest in supporting Thunderbolt in the future, but for now, FW800 works just fine. If you invest in a Satellite now, but you’ve got a Mac with Thunderbolt, you could in future connect a different accessory to that Thunderbolt port rather than the FW800 port, thus leaving the Satellite its own bus. (Got that?)

In the meantime, I’m absolutely, positively happy with my 2010-model MacBook Pro, which I picked up steeply discounted when the new Thunderbolt models came out. I maxed out the RAM and saved hundred of bucks, and the combination of 2x USB2 and FW800 more than suits my needs. No complaints here.

As Amanda indicates, the Satellite gives you a significant amount of processing power. For my use, this was perfect for experimenting with creative effects and adding UA’s excellent compression and channel processing tools. I’ve got some mixing and mastering projects coming up, and can’t wait to bring the UA stuff into the workflow.

Recommendations

Whether you want access to the UAD platform is really dependent on your needs and tastes. Certainly, there’s a wide variety of native processing tools that don’t rely on external DSP hardware. The main appeal, as I’ve said in the past, is the unique, historically-informed modeling approach that Universal Audio take to their work. Their catalog is certainly extensive, and I’m especially happy with the quality of the recent additions, like the Studer multitrack tape emulation and some superb reverbs, compressions, and the like. (One new entry: the Lexicon 224.)

The question is really whether the FireWire 800 bus is big news for UA, and there, it’s tough to overstate how much this changes working with UA’s stuff on a variety of Macs and on the road. The SOLO I’d tested previously is nice enough, but the DUO and QUAD really give you the amount of processing power you’d want to do some real work, to experiment live across a number of tracks without running out of horsepower – and that’s, after all, the point of using a DSP platform.

A new Mac and a Satellite are really all you need to build an impressive digital studio. They now give you the freedom to make that studio exist anywhere, and with almost any set of tools. We’ve seen that kind of liberation with native processing, but to get that native power and DSP power at once is really a dream. For existing users, moving over is a no-brainer, since sharing authorizations is a cinch. For newcomers who’ve been waiting for the optimal hardware choice to unlock the UA catalog, this is it. (It’s worth looking into bundles to try to get your collection of effects rolling.)

Even with Thunderbolt on the horizon, external DSP on a MacBook Pro or mini is now finally accessible. UA’s stuff isn’t cheap, but if the value proposition makes sense to you, and you’re a Mac owner, you now have the combination you’ve been waiting for. The only bad news, really, is for PC users left in the cold – and there, we may just have to wait and see what direction laptop buses take in the wider market.

Universal Audio UAD-2 Satellite DUO and…
Satellite QUAD

Got questions for me, or for UA? Feedback on this gear or this review? Fire away in comments, as always, folks.

Those of you in the market for a new MacBook Pro are no doubt already tuned into the product news. So let’s talk about what isn’t changed on the new MacBook line, because it’s a good thing.

• You still get FireWire 800 ports on all models, including the entry-level 13″ machine.
• ExpressCard is still standard on the 17″ MacBook Pro.
• Your dongles for video adapters still work.

I’m researching implications for audio of the new Thunderbolt connection. My guess is it’s a little too early to say; 10 GBps storage sounds fantastic, but it’s far beyond the needs of all but the craziest audio applications. (That is, fast FireWire and USB drives work really well already.)

Where you’ll see it in audio is likely two places: one, more high-performance audio I/O, and two, clearing the bottleneck with DSP chips that has long plagued external hardware DSP. The latter is maybe a bit ironic as we look at ongoing performance gains from GPUs and integrated architectures there, but it’s no accident that Universal Audio and Avid are excited about it, as they have DSP products. And enthusiasm from Avid and Apogee means you can expect to see high-end audio with lots of I/O for this format. See the Intel technology page. As for specifics, we’ll be watching.

For adoption, this is certainly big news. Thunderbolt faced a chicken and egg problem; Apple is the 800-lb chicken.

The short version of the other specs: these machines are faster. Again, though, current audio applications run pretty well on the previous machines; I’m pleased to say we’re now in a place where people aren’t red-lining their CPU every day.

In fact, for those reasons, if you want a bargain on a MacBook Pro for audio work, now could be a great time to pick up a closeout on the old machine. On the audio side, the new models are largely appealing because their Thunderbolt port ensures future-proofing for whatever comes next – without having to give up the I/O on the previous models.

More discussion on the Motion side, focusing, naturally, on what we know about the graphics chips:
MacBook Pro Revision Updates GPU, adds Thunderbolt, but No New Display Dongles (Phew)

And yes, you have choices in this competitive marketplace, including PCs. But there you go – anyone who thought we’d see a step backward in I/O today can now exhale. And anyone looking for greater architecture performance, your machines have arrived. And anyone saying that laptops aren’t still awesome and improving in the age of low-end mobile and tablets? You’re just kinda all-around wrong. As for tomorrow, well, who knows, who knows…

It’s difficult to describe Universal Audio’s plug-ins until you’ve tried them. It’s a bit like having chocolate sauce at your disposal, sonically speaking. Whatever your higher-level brain may have to say, somewhere deep in your mammalian brain, you hear only … mmmmmm. Chocolate. It’s the word I get from UA users, and I’ll also have an interview with UA to post next week in which we get deep into the philosophy of sound, software design, and modeling, a conversation that transcends any one product. They’re not for everyone – they demand a price premium, to be sure, versus rival CPU-native options, and those with access to a studio might just use the real thing. But for enthusiasts, they can be a delight.

The trick is actually having access to UA’s extensive library of analog-modeling effects. Even as CPUs have marched forward in performance, dedicated DSP chips haven’t stood still. That makes these number-crunching brains a convenient platform for sound, as they are on UA’s effects. If you’re not using a desktop PC with a PCI slot, that means you need an external bus through which the hardware and your computer can connect. ExpressCard is a big boon, but especially for Mac users, it’s been an obstacle. A powerful MacBook Pro is now available for around a grand, but to get ExpressCard, you now need the wallet-busting, messenger bag-cramming 17″ model. It’s clearly a deal breaker.

The UAD-2 Satellite DUO and QUAD should greatly broaden the appeal of the platform, making it accessible to inexpensive, recent iMacs and MacBook Pros. I’m sure Universal Audio is smiling at the idea that you can take that $1000-2000 premium and spend it on UA instead of Apple.

By connecting via Firewire 400 or 800 on a “select” (recent) Intel Mac, the Satellite gives you access to models of vintage hardware UA has made with the likes of Roland, Neve, Moog, Studer, dbx, Solid State Logic, Lexicon, Manley, Empirical Labs, Trident, SPL, and EMT.

On the PC, I’d still recommend the inexpensive ExpressCard option to get started. It’s cheaper, and won’t have the strict compatibility requirements. On the Mac, though, with $500 plug-in vouchers or 50 plug-ins included, the US$899 starting point on these models doesn’t look bad at all. In fact, someone out there may be over at the Apple Store already pricing out one of the “low-end” iMacs or MacBook Pros, as they represent desktop-class performance from just a couple of years ago, particularly with what you can do now with USB2 and Firewire.

UA also recently added Pro Tools compatibility, so that combined with FireWire options means just about anyone can now consider their platform. If it’s something that interests you and you’ve got questions, fire away in comments and I’ll pass them on to the engineers at UA.

http://www.uaudio.com/

UAD-2 Satellite DUO Product Page (the entry-level model … more specs on compatibility forthcoming)

Darnit. Now I mentioned chocolate, so I have to go eat a chocolate.

Any time Apple unveils a new product, someone is likely wondering if it’s a viable choice for music. The answer on the new MacBook Air is probably yes – though for music production, even at a $999 price, you may want to sacrifice a little bit of weight for the specs on the non-Air MacBook line.

Here’s a quick look:

• Core 2 Duo architecture. While running at slower clock speeds, this is a more efficient CPU choice for audio. (Don’t let the clock fool you, in other words – there’s a fair bit of power here.) You don’t get the battery life or dirt-cheap price of the Atom – but you don’t get its abysmal performance, either. And the Air has a 3-6MB L2 cache. This isn’t a netbook, in other words (though it’s also 2-4 times as expensive, of course).
• NVIDIA 320M is good enough to make this a choice for light visual work. Mini DisplayPort, natch.
• Two USB ports.
• Mysterious storage. I say “mysterious,” because Apple doesn’t talk about the specs on its drives. Flash memory has done quite nicely for audio reads and writes, but it depends on the model. Wait for a teardown before committing. Updated: See Ars Technica’s numbers. That SSD is fast. No worries here – though you’ll have to shell out more if you want more space, and you don’t have the FireWire 800 option on the Air for external storage, only USB2.
• Multitouch trackpad (nothing new but, incidentally, works with things like Logic)

Viable? Yes, probably, as a second machine. And for those who want a laptop that’s light and thin like a netbook but with something closer to laptop specs, this is it. For audio, I think the big question mark is the flash storage; I’d love to hear from someone who knows. On everything else, again, it’ll be worth comparing to the MacBook Pro.

Of course, this isn’t really something aimed at production customers at Apple, but I think it’s nonetheless worth considering, and mostly because I’m curious to hear what commenters say.

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html

Summer has ended, but that leaves time to look back. Among the many parties around the world, Electric Zoo was New York’s biggest electronic festival, with headliners from Moby to Flying Lotus, descending on a dusty, sunny Randall’s Island just east of the island Manhattan.

At top, I took my new Diana mini (lo-fi film camera) out for a spin amongst the music lovers, who gravitated moth-like to the camera. Never let it be said that Americans don’t like electronic music; families and a new, young generation of ravers flooded into the park. Since Moby’s set was off-limits for photography, it seemed to me only appropriate to go hang out with the music fans. And it’s good to remember that, whatever your musical genre, there’s someone whom you can make happy with your work. (Having spent the same weekend on a rooftop and in a barn with monome practitioners and lovers, yes, there’s a place for everything.) Feel free to page through the sets, especially if it’s a rainy, cloudy day.

When you face a crowd of eager fans, the desire to deliver real performance becomes all the greater. In an age of pre-configured DJ sets, it’s a chance to have the same enthusiasm as those in the audience, and yes, to actually sweat a bit. As a study in what’s possible with computer performance, I took in live, non-DJ sets by Jon Hopkins and The Glitch Mob.

Both artists use touch in their performance. The interaction with the music is reasonably limited, but that means the effect is easy to read. As it happens, we’ve profiled the setups of each of these acts before. For Jon Hopkins, multiple KAOSS Pads facilitate quick access to dramatic effects. Ableton Live is just the sound-source; the outboard gear handles both touch control and signal processing. For The Glitch Mob, Lemur multi-touch displays, tilted toward the audience, control parameters in Ableton Live.

More details:
Behind the scenes of The Glitch Mob’s Lemur setup

Jon Hopkins tells CDM about his studio, live rigs and playing the KAOSS Pad

I have to notice that the KAOSS Pads fare a bit better than the Lemurs in regards to tactile access to what you’re doing. The Glitch Mob had to make its touch areas on the Lemur fairly large just to find them; because they’re all on an undifferentiated screen, you have to find the right location by feel. But for both acts, creating big gestures is important, partly so that it reads to the audience, I imagine, but also so that it’s the kinds of gestures that feels good as a player and are easily reproduced. And even with a touchscreen, it’s possible to begin to tap into muscle memory, as was clear as The Glitch Mob used their consistent control layout in their set.

Touch alone, in each case, is augmented by tactile controls. The Korgs have physical encoders and controls, and Hopkins uses MIDI input and computer control for tactile control over sets. The Glitch Mob use Akai drum pad controllers, as well. And fun as the touchscreens are, they can’t compete with good, old-fashioned drumming: the highlight of The Glitch Mob’s new set is when they break out drumsticks and explode into lines worthy of a drum corps. (The Glitch Mob need to meet Caity at Georgia Tech.) You can tell the guys are just having a great time doing it. We talk about all the ways computer performance can become more like instruments, but, of course, there’s no reason not to simply use the traditional instruments we love alongside computers.

There’s still a sense of a divide between the virtual and the physical, the digital interface and the kinetic gesture, and maybe that’s natural. Rather than try to entirely reconcile the two, they can sit side by side – just like my digital Olympus and analog Diana.

I could say more, but I think in this case, the pictures tell the story, a little microcosm of the many musical events of this summer.

Flying Lotus

There’s something to be said for the good, old-fashioned MIDI controlled and laptop combo. FlyLo makes an Akai MPD32 his axe of choice – and it makes it look damned good. Photos courtesy the festival.

The Gear

The Fans

All of this would be meaningless if fans only responded to DJ sets. On the contrary; live sets in electronic sound live and connect in a way that’s special.

All photos (CC-BY-SA) Peter Kirn, unless otherwise noted.

First, for anyone with a recent MacBook and a copy of Max for Live, Juan Pablo Carrascal has come up with a lovely solution for on-the-go production. Using the trackpad’s multitouch input support, his Max patch transforms your laptop into a MIDI control device, for those times when you don’t have a controller handy. (See also a great, open source Mac touchpad tool.) I don’t have a compatible Mac on which to test this, but it looks great. And because it is a Max for Live patch, you could use this as a basis for other, similar tools.

Juan Pablo writes a detailed look at how he put the patch together and how to use it:

Macbook trackpad as controller for Ableton Live (with Max for Live)

You just need an external mouse, since this will take over the use of your trackpad. It could also be handy for adding an extra touch controller in a live performance (especially in cramped performance spaces).

Second, for Max for Live developers, Peter aka ShelLuser on the Live forums has come up with a patch entitled LOM.Navigator that gives you full access to every single function provided by Live’s internal control surface support. It’d be nice if Ableton had designed that control surface object in a more logical, consistent way, or properly documented it. (ahem) But Live hacker to the rescue: LOM.Navigator lets you explore all the capabilities Max for Live can control, opening up lots of possibilities for live performance. Full message thread:

LOM.Navigator v1.0 – With *full* control surface support. [Ableton forum; thanks, Mudo!]

Apple today refreshed its MacBook Pro line in a long-awaited update, moving the Apple laptops in line with recent advancements in Intel CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs. There are some caveats when you pull apart the line, however – the 13″ models miss out on the new CPUs in this lineup, at least – and you’ll pay to get some of the better improvements. Of course, a Mac is a Mac; for many readers, it’s the reliability of the combination with the Mac OS that is likely to be the deciding factor.

The best news is, the 15″ and 17″ models are getting new Core i5 and i7 processors, which boast significant performance boosts and improved battery life. That’s a plus both for number-crunching audio production power and for keeping your battery going while you’re running Ableton on the trans-continental coach flight. These aren’t huge changes, though – and, at the risk of igniting some flame wars, there are competitive PCs that use the same technologies. But if you were waiting for this refresh to get a new Mac (or pick up an almost-new Mac at a discount), today’s your lucky day.

You can read the full specs from Apple, and Engadget has even done an unboxing of the top-of-the-line i7 model, but here’s a quick overview of how the models compare.

13″
$1199-1499
Core 2 Duo (2.4-2.66) – not the newer Core i3/i5/i7 (yet)
Integrated graphics (NVIDIA 320M, similar to the 310M – think a new generation of the previous 9400M)
1280 by 800 graphics
Up to 10 hours battery life
Two USB 2.0, one FireWire 800, one SD card slot

15″
$1799-2199
Core i5/i7 (2.4-2.66) CPU
NVIDIA 330M discrete GPU switches with integrated graphics for better battery life
1440 by 900 graphics
9 hours battery life
Two USB 2.0, one FireWire 800, one SD card slot

17″
$2299-2499
2.53G Core i5 ($200 more gets you the 2.66 i7 as a custom option, not listed in the specs)
Three USB 2.0, one FireWire 800, ExpressCard/34 slot

The good news: As always, Apple’s machines have some lovely standard features. All of the models have standard backlit keyboards – ideal for seeing your machine onstage. They all have MagSafe power ports, multi-touch trackpads, great-looking screens, 8x SuperDrives (for burning and reading), iSight cameras, and lovely aluminum bodies.

Sweet spots: the $1199 machine, if you can live without the fastest processor or GPU, is a pretty solid compromise, especially as a satellite to a desktop. (13″ in coach class and on buses is also a big, big win.) I also like the 15″ models, and as readers noted, you can upgrade to a high-density 1680-by-1050, and choose antiglare. Doing that on the cheaper 15″ could be a good way to go.

If you have the money, the 17″ is the one model that offers the biggest display (antiglare is available, though not listed on the “compare” specs page), and it’s the one with ExpressCard. It remains the best “pro” machine for people who want every option. Why would you want that ExpressCard slot? I expect it’ll appeal for those who want one main product, the UAD-2 from Universal Audio, for fantastic-sounding DSP effects. (The slot is also a way to add e-SATA support for more storage flexibility.)

Note that the standard drive is a stock 5400 rpm drive, but you can upgrade to a 7200 rpm model. RPM isn’t the only measure of disk performance, so I’d have to know more to give solid advice there. (I’m also very curious how the SSD option stacks up. Some – but not all – SSD drives are delivering great performance for audio.)

Hi, I’m a PC. There’s no question that you pay a price premium for Apple. Consider, for instance, that the ASUS U30 reviewed by Engadget today costs just $900, has a newer Core i3 CPU and more ports, and a form-factor and battery life that are competitive with a pricier 13″ MacBook. Or for a more luxurious price, you can get something like the Rain Recording laptops – one tested specifically with a range of audio apps – for the same price as a higher-end Mac, with more amenities in storage and I/O. I don’t expect that is going to sway anyone to switch from Mac to PC, but it means those who do like PC software – including exclusives like FL Studio, SONAR, and video editing app Vegas, or booting Linux – still have a good option.

The issues that I think may be more relevant to Mac users:

The bad news: The only machine that allows you to add an ExpressCard slot is the 17″ model. I/O remains limited: you get 2 USB ports on all but the 17″ model and 3 USB ports on that device. FireWire 800 can be used with FireWire 400 devices, but 800 is all you get, which I know still bothers some Mac customers. And there’s no eSATA port, a useful connection now commonly found on PCs.

Snap judgments: So, what do readers think? Already, a few gems from our Twitter friends:

[asked about PC options and cost] “skulpture: nope wud never swap back to Win. I’d rather buy an old MacBook pro.” Fair enough. And, of course, the very-nice previous-year MacBooks are about to get cheaper – look for open box or refurb models, especially. The same user, on FireWire: “well apple have not brought back fw400 so as far as I’m concerned they have shot themselves in the foot- again!” (You can use FW400-to-800 adapter cables. I have heard some users complain about compatibility problems, though I haven’t been able to verify them – anyone?)

“autoy: I think the pixel density for the 15” optional HD display and battery life are the killer features.”

“chaircrusher: new MBPs — faster than the old ones, and expensive.”

That’s not Apple.com’s headline, but I think it’s fair.

The biggest remaining question to me is really the details on the disks – if there’s an 8MB or 16MB cache, for instance, and how the SSDs perform. More on that soon.

Far be it from me to start a platform war, but I’m curious – is anyone considering a PC laptop? Are you committed to one platform or the other, or do you compare? How many people are running Windows in Boot Camp for music production, or Linux on the Mac? After all, at the end of the day, it’s all music. (Some of the feedback I’ve gotten again and again is that choosing a PC – given wildly variable quality and complex options – can be challenging for audio. I hope CDM would be informative whatever platform you choose, so I’m working on good ways of gathering more info on this. Stay tuned. And likewise, if there’s more you want to know about the new Macs, just ask.)

Updated: An early version of Apple’s comparison specs I believe listed the entry-level 13″ computer without an iSight. I don’t have a screenshot, so I can’t verify whether that was an Apple mistake or my mistake, but the current specs verify that the iSight is standard, which makes more sense.

What do most musicians really need out of an audio interface? The answer to that question can vary wildly, but for a whole lot of people, it’s as simple as wanting to get an instrument and/or vocals in, and a basic, high-quality stereo mix out. That’s it.

That’s part of why Apogee’s new compact ONE audio interface could be a huge hit on the Mac. Let’s reduce its specs to the basics:

• It lets you plug in a mic, with a preamp and phantom power
• It lets you plug in an instrument (high impedance — so think your guitar or bass)
• It has an internal condenser mic, so you can record on the go even if you don’t have a mic handy
• It has a stereo output for headphones or powered monitors
• It has a nice big, shiny knob and lights for levels.
• It’s really small.

Apogee’s converters are some of the most respected in the business. If this is up to their usual quality, that could make this a really special box – as a basic audio interface or an addition to your gig bag. This interface does 44.1/48kHz, 24-bit.

And it plugs in via USB with USB power support, so if you got one of Apple’s FireWire-less MacBooks — before the recent refresh returned FireWire — you can actually use this.

There is some bad news. This is really a single-input box; you can’t even use the instrument in and the mic in (even the internal mic) at the same time. That seems an odd choice, as it wipes out a whole bunch of singer-songwriters. The output, likewise, is unbalanced and out of a single 1/8″ jack, which isn’t always what you want out gigging. And the ONE, pretty as it looks, has some stiff competition in the affordable USB market. On the other hand, if these specs do fit what you need, the ONE’s stablemate Duet had fantastic quality and uncommonly plug-and-play operation and Mac OS integration, making this really appealing for the Mac crowd.

And you’ve got to love that optional mic stand mount and design. It’s also really, really small – 4″ W x 6.3″ L x 1.5″. Apogee says “pocket-sized” which is a stretch unless they mean overalls or someone’s metric conversion is off, but it is nonetheless very portable.

Now, Apogee, if we could just get a ONE AND A HALF for people who like this but want balanced 1/4″ outs and two simultaneous ins instead of one… (Yeah, I know, you can’t please everyone.)

The ONE ships in late July.

http://www.apogeedigital.com/one

Thanks to Kevin Vanwulpen for the tip!

I love the sound bugs make when you squish them under a solution.

AlexP, whose blog is also a great source for multitouch and the Sony PS3 Eye Camera and Windows drivers we used in the recent hackday, has been diagnosing his MacBook under Windows Vista. Hardware problems are often the source of sound blips on computers. I’ve talked previously about using the DPC Latency Checker to find this issue.

The good news: Alexander has found the problem (the Broadcom Wireless Adapter in some Apple MacBooks) and a solution (switching off Windows’ automatic wireless network search when you don’t need it). I actually wonder if a similar problem was culpable in early problems with network WiFi on Mac OS X Leopard. Whatever is going on, check out the fix here if you’re encountering this problem. And let us know if you’re seeing this on machines other than just the MacBook revision F; I’d imagine any PC with a similar wireless adapter might have the issue:

MacBook Rev. F Audio Skipping in Vista Analysis and Solution – Part 2

And yes, hardware/driver problems may frequently manifest as what Windows terms DPCs – basically, a symptom of hardware usage that can interfere with reliable audio performance. I’m curious whether WiFi connections specifically may be a cause in other cases. The problem is almost certainly not limited to computers from Apple – especially since, in this case, the MacBook is just behaving like any PC laptop with similar specs.